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Smashed

Story Of A Drunken Girlhood

By Koren Zailckas

(10)

| Others | 9781400151547

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Book Description

From earliest experimentation to habitual excess to full-blown abuse, twenty-four-year-old Koren Zailckas leads us through her experience of a terrifying trend among young girls, exploring how binge drinking becomes routine, how it becomes "the usual." With the stylistic freshness of a poet and tContinue

From earliest experimentation to habitual excess to full-blown abuse, twenty-four-year-old Koren Zailckas leads us through her experience of a terrifying trend among young girls, exploring how binge drinking becomes routine, how it becomes "the usual." With the stylistic freshness of a poet and the dramatic gifts of a novelist, Zailckas describes her first sip at fourteen, alcohol poisoning at sixteen, a blacked-out sexual experience at nineteen, total disorientation after waking up in an unfamiliar New York City apartment at twenty-two, when she realized she had to stop, and all the depression, rage, troubled friendships, and sputtering romantic connections in between. Zailckas’s unflinching candor and exquisite analytical eye gets to the meaning beneath the seeming banality of girls’ getting drunk. She persuades us that her story is the story of thousands of girls like her who are not alcoholics—yet—but who use booze as a short cut to courage, a stand-in for good judgment, and a bludgeon for shyness, each of them failing to see how their emotional distress, unarticulated hostility, and depression are entangled with their socially condoned binging.

Like the contemporary masterpieces The Liars’ Club, Autobiography of a Face, and Jarhead, Smashed is destined to become a classic. A crucial book for any woman who has succumbed to oblivion through booze, or for anyone ready to face the more subtle repercussions of their own chronic over-drinking or of someone they love, Smashed is an eye-opening, wise, and utterly gripping achievement.

Critics

  • Smashed By Koren Zailckas

    Zailckas' much-admired autobiography is an electrifying account of her experiences as an alcoholic. If the topic matter sounds all too familiar, readers can rest assured that Zailckas' treatment of her addiction makes for a distinctive and compelling ... (read full critics)

    bookpage published on Wed, 15 Sep 2010

  • Smashed By Koren Zailckas

    Koren Zailckas took her first drink at 14, had alcohol poisoning at 16, spent her undergraduate years binge-drinking or hung over, then sobered up for good at 23. Smashed, read here by Ellen Archer, is her moving, unflinching memoir of that drunken g ... (read full critics)

    bookpage published on Sun, 12 Sep 2010

1 Review

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  • YAWN. What a dull read. I can't believe I made it all the way through. Nothing special or meaningful or lessons you can take away. The writing style sucks. What can you expect from someone who was hungover through all of her college classes though, I guess? I will avoid all future writing by t ... (continue)

    YAWN. What a dull read. I can't believe I made it all the way through. Nothing special or meaningful or lessons you can take away. The writing style sucks. What can you expect from someone who was hungover through all of her college classes though, I guess? I will avoid all future writing by this chick. The author of the story is seriously unlikeable. "Oh I was thin and popular but I still didn't like myself so I drank even though I was on the college cheerleading team and in a sorority and dated a ton and had balls of friends. Boo hoo for me." Thrilling.

    Read all the 1 star reviews on Amazon and they cover every issue I had with this lame book.

    Is this helpful?

    Deanna Kyre said on Oct 18, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

  • Rating:
    (10)
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  • English Books
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  • Edition: Unab MP3
  • ISBN-10: 1400151546
  • ISBN-13: 9781400151547
  • Publisher: Tantor Media
  • Pub date: Apr 01, 2005
  • Also available as: Paperback, Hardcover and Audio CD
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9781400151547 Others $22.99 $20.69 bn.com
$22.99 $16.40 The Book Depository
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